Thanks to The Times for the article on the new legislative session and bills Senator Kavanagh will submit. It is important to pay attention to what our local elected officials are working on. Please keep us posted as the session progresses.

The bill that is noted as “the main bill [he] will be working on” is described as “legislation to prevent what he calls the abuse of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.” The article goes on to quote the Senator that, “There is a small group of lawyers who are filing a large number of lawsuits over minor infractions of the law. They are asking for settlements and extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from small businesses.”

The bill would allow business owners an additional 30-60 days to meet compliance standards before a suit could be filed. This might seem reasonable if it were not for the fact that the ADA first became law in 1991 and the latest rules were published in 2010 with compliance required by 2012.

Seems like a waste of time working on bills to increase penalties for stealing an American flag or specific assaults because they are “an attack on an individual’s right of expression.” Regarding the assault bill, Kavanagh “was inspired to bring this up after seeing a video of two people beating a Donald Trump supporter.” Not any of the videos of people at Trump rallies beating people?

The article noted that “The other big job that faces the legislature each year is the budget.” “The budget picture looks extremely dismal…There is no extra money,” Kavanagh said. So he declined to be the Chair of the Appropriations Committee. Perhaps looking for additional revenue or not implementing more tax cuts would help. I guess when the going gets tough the Senator steps aside.